Backbiting on the Backstretch

Bob Baffert and Wayne Lukas were sitting next to each other at a recent racing function when Baffert said to Lukas, “Everyone used to hate you. Now they hate me.”

It’s as clear as a giant flowered hat, and just as ugly.

At rowdy Churchill Downs today, the only thing more quietly despised than Bob Baffert will be a Breathalyzer.

The 128th Kentucky Derby will feature 19 horses, 150,000 fans, and one villain.

Baffert will saddle longshot War Emblem.

While being roasted for buying his way into the Derby.

Baffert will also saddle longshot Danthebluegrassman.

While being called Bobthecheesyman, because the horse was entered at the last minute, knocking out a rival owner.

Remember five years ago, when Baffert left Louisville as a Silver Charm?

Remember four years ago, when he won his second consecutive Derby by being anything but Real Quiet?

Back then, he was racing’s favorite new silks, brightly colored and perfectly fitted.

Now, he’s that gaudy blanket the railbirds can’t wait to discard.

Some of the smiles have turned to smirks. Back slaps have turned to rolled eyes.

“Just as quick as they build you up in this business, they tear you down,” Lukas said, smiling. “I know all about it.”

The media and Baffert once loved each other. Then last spring, he angrily poked a noted racing writer in the chest.

The fans once loved him too. Then last spring, he left Churchill Downs to jeers.

It’s enough to turn a man’s hair black.

“There’s so much jealousy in our business,” Baffert said earlier this week. “They don’t like anything new or different. They don’t like change.”

Standing near his barn on the backstretch, it was clear again that the Santa Anita-based Baffert is different, before he ever opens his mouth.

He arrives at the track after dawn. He never seems to get mud on his pants, straw in his hair.

On this day, he is the only trainer wearing not some feed-store sweatshirt, but an NFL logo-covered golf shirt. The shirt features the emblem of the expansion Houston Texans. He does work for team owner Bob McNair, who also owns horses.

“I told him, one day, my horse is going to be worth more than his quarterback,” Baffert said.

His football mentality makes him different.

Four weeks ago, when Danthebluegrassman finished last in the Santa Anita Derby, it looked as if Baffert would be out of the Kentucky Derby for the first time in seven years.

But then Baffert took what the defense gave him.

First, after learning that Illinois Derby winner War Emblem would not run in Kentucky, Baffert persuaded owner Prince Ahmed Bin Salman to buy the colt.

“When I got a call to see if I wanted a Derby horse, I said, ‘Damn!’” Baffert said.

So what if he would have him for only a few weeks. So what if people would give former trainer Frank Springer as much credit as Baffert.

“I’ve had my friends start crying even before the horse runs in the Derby,” Baffert said. “Before I knew I was going to the Derby, I had my shrink on call. It’s a special, special moment.”

Then once in the race, Baffert pulled a fumblerooski by persuading owner Mike Pegram to enter Danthebluegrassman on Wednesday, at the last possible minute, long after everyone had considered the field closed.

The entry knocked lower-earning Windward Passage out of the race, raising eyebrows among those who remembered that Windward Passage’s owner, Barry Irwin, works with trainer Jenine Sahadi.

Remember who Baffert insulted a couple of years ago at the Santa Anita Derby? A remark apparently questioning Sahadi’s competence caused him more grief than a pair of broken blinkers.

At the time, Irwin said, “Bob Baffert can’t allow anyone else to have their 15 minutes of fame, no matter who the individual is. I don’t think Jenine has the problem. I think he has the problem.”

It was no surprise that some horse folks think Danthebluegrassman is in the race not because of achievement, but revenge.

“It’s not my fault that people didn’t notice my horse was working out here, or that he was eligible,” Baffert said.

“When I thought he was ready, I entered him. What’s wrong with that?”

The answer, of course, is nothing.

The racing community needs to put a feedbag on it.

Bob Baffert is one of only a few horse folks recognized outside of a barn.

Racing doesn’t need less of him, it needs more.

“The guy is the best trainer in his field,” Pegram said. “All the rest is bull.”

Baffert has been plagued with twitters about his divorce. Yet does anybody ask those same questions about Laker Coach Phil Jackson?

Baffert has been ripped for talking too much in the press. Yet isn’t that what everyone in the publicity-starved thoroughbred world should be doing?

Some feel outside distractions are affecting his work. Yet he’s still fifth nationally in purses, and has the longest current Kentucky Derby trainer streak, seven consecutive years.

“We need our own people in this business to stop knocking each other,” Baffert said. “All they do is knock, when we should be trying to sell.”

During one group interview session this week outside Baffert’s barn, a horse broke free and began galloping toward the writers.

“Nobody move!” Baffert shouted. “The horse won’t run at us if we don’t move.”

Everyone stood still. The horse ran past the group. Baffert continued the interview.

“Geez,” said one bystander, clearly surprised. “That guy really knows something about horses.”

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com.